More short-term changes for Hutt Valley train commuters

Greater Wellington Regional Council and KiwiRail have announced some more termporary changes to Hutt Valley train operations. These build on existing initiatives to address current issues with crowded peak time trains and resulting problems with fare collection.

The surcharge for Wairarapa services will not be charged for morning peak time passengers from Waterloo or Petone heading for Wellington from Monday 18 April. Upper Hutt passengers already benefit from this change.

At Petone from Tuesday 19 April, tickets for morning peak services with be sold and checked on the Wellington bound platform rather than on the train. This follows the successful introduction of similar ticket checking on some Kapiti Line stations two weeks earlier.

Although most morning peak Melling Line services will continue as temporary bus replacements, Tranz Metro has arranged for the 8.34am from Melling to Wellington to run as a train service from 20 April.

“The changes do take a little while to get used to, but the on-platform fare collection seems to be effective. It’s imperative that passengers pay their fair share of public transport costs,” says Wayne Hastie, Greater Wellington’s Public Transport Group General Manager.

“However, this situation is not ideal – it is temporary and we are all looking forward to a return to business as usual when there are sufficient numbers of Matangi trains in service,” he says.

“The extra capacity freed by putting on bus replacements is already making a difference on some of our busiest trains, although I realise it is not popular with our Melling customers,” says Deborah Hume, KiwiRail’s General Manager Rail Passenger. “The ticket checking on platforms is running well on the Kapiti Line and has the support of our regular pass holders. It would be helpful if Petone passengers could arrive slightly earlier so we have time to check your tickets before you board.”

More information is available here